What are the pros and cons of using a management consultant?

This was a question I used to ask when working for a government organisation that employed thousands of staff and at the same time spent millions of dollars on management consultants. Many staff used to joke, "There go the black suits again to get some more good ideas from us for their reports". Those from the larger consultancy firms all seemed to have a similar language and approach and were usually young MBAs reporting to a senior, experienced consultant who was often not available. For those of us who worked closely with the consultants, I think we came to appreciate that some of them had a lot to offer, while others added little value and were just seen as an annoyance we could do without.

So, what are the pros and cons of using management consultants?

Pros

1. Consultants can bring skills and experience that your organisation may be lacking. To employ someone full time with these skills may be quite expensive and not needed on an ongoing basis.
2. Consultants usually have experience in a number of different environments and can bring new insights and different perspectives into your organisation. They can often see things with fresh eyes and hence help the organisation address some of the critical things that may have been overlooked.
3. A consultant can bring objectivity and independence. This can be important in a number of different contexts, for example, carrying out an evidence-based evaluation of an existing program or new service.
4. Consultants can also help with skills transfer and organisational capacity building - so with time they pro-actively work themselves out of a role.
5. Consultants can challenge senior management in ways that employed staff may not be able to.

Cons

1. If they do not deliver the outcomes they were signed up for, this can be an unnecessary expense as their rates are often more expensive than the average wage of your senior staff.
2. Some come with baggage, for example, management jargon that may initially sound impressive but in the longer term can be shallow and alienating to staff.
3. Good consultants may be working on several projects at once and may not be able to give you their full attention.
4. They may have little knowledge of your organisation and limited understand of your culture and corporate history.
5. Some come knowing they are only there short term and do not give adequate consideration to issues of sustainability and longer term outcomes. Thus, you may sometimes hear from a consultant - "things didn't work out for you after we left because you didn't follow our guaranteed pathway to success."

To achieve maximum benefit, and guard against some of the cons mentioned above, it is important to engage the appropriate consultant for your situation. These will be discussed in the next blog.